Some e-mail will not open because they say my security is set on high and needs to be set on medium. How do I do that?

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Before I tell you, let's make sure you want to.

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What it boils down to is this: with the security setting set to medium, the
email you are viewing which is most probably formatted as an HTML message may
contain things that could be harmful to your computer. Like viruses. That's why
many email and other programs will now default to a high level of security.

Do you trust the sender and do you know it's from them?

If so, then in Control Panel, Internet
Options, click on the Security tab. Click on the
Internet zone. You should now see either a sliding control
that will let you select the level of security for that zone anywhere from High
to Low. If you see "Custom - To change the settings
click Custom Level" instead, then click the Default Level button. This
should restore the sliding control that will let you select your level of
security.

Depending on your email program, you may have to change the settings for
your "Local intranet" zone as well. In any case, you will probably need to exit
and restart your email program for the changes to be recognized. And finally,
any changes you've made here will also apply to Internet Explorer.

If you want to see the email without changing your security settings, then
depending on your email program you may save it to disk and view it in
something like notepad, or instruct your email program to treat the email as
"plain text". It may look like a lot of gibberish around the actual content of
the email, but that will at least allow you to determine what's inside.

Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.